Memorial Day Weekend Rides

I spent the Memorial Day weekend in Ocean City, Maryland (missing the epic Severna Park Peloton rides) and took my bike. It was a real mixed bag for riding for me.

Saturday morning … I had some muscle soreness and decided to take the day off. The pain was mostly in my quads and in my triceps.

Sunday morning, early, I jumped on the bike and took off north, trying to get a ride in before church. This was a first for such a flat route. That first 5 miles I averaged 20.2 mph, and it really felt good. I was pushing a little headwind, but the flat route and very limited traffic made for speed. I was overly optimistic about maintaining that pace. Still, for the first 15 miles, I averaged 19.5 mph. That’s a personal best. Along the way a bug made it to the back of my throat as I was inhaling. I slowed to help a rider who flatted, but he said he was fine. I also discovered what a friend said was true. He claims that on the Eastern Shore, you are always riding into a headwind. I turned around at mile 15.5 and suddenly discovered that I had not been bucking a slight headwind, because now it was full in my face, and slowed me considerably. I really struggled coming back into that wind and maintaining speed. My desire for a record-setting pace faded with more red traffic lights and that incessant wind. Another friend had commented on how Cliff bars tasted great but were nearly impossible to open on a bike. Absolutely true on both counts! I crossed a state line for the first time, riding in two different states. I’ll return to the area for the Seagull Century in October.

My Monday morning ride was miserable. I had sunburn in parts of my body (from time on the beach on Sunday afternoon) which was aggravated by riding, including the tops of my feet, my ankles, my thighs where my riding shorts had previously protected me from sun (and were now causing pain) and my neck. To top it all off, I really didn’t have good nutrition to ride that early and was probably dehydrated from the sunburn. I gave up after 5 miles and returned to the condo. I didn’t think that I was that burned. Later in the day, I noticed that my left foot was swollen some. I wouldn’t call the burn bad or severe, just enough that riding was really not in the cards for the day. I finished with nearly 10.5 miles on the day, my shortest day since early April where all I did was commute to and from work.

I really did miss the rides Severna Park Peloton planned for the weekend. They would have been much more fun than riding solo, and I would have gotten more miles in. Maybe next year.

That brings May’s rides to a close. May’s total = 626 miles, more than 200 miles over April. June will be a tough month for me. Nearly the entire first half of the month will not be available to ride (unless I can squeeze a couple of rides in between June 8-10).